Bowling ball lifting device for bowling installations

ABSTRACT

A bowling ball-lifting device for bowling installations comprising an upper and lower deflecting rollers which are pivotally mounted. An endless belt trained about the upper and lower deflecting rollers serves to raise the bowling balls. A train of rollers is disposed at the rear of the bowling ballconveying run of the endless belt for supporting at least a portion of the length of said conveying run of said endless belt. The lower deflecting roller is pivotally mounted so that it is raised when a ball is being elevated. A ball-blocking mechanism cooperates with the lower roller to prevent the infeed of further balls while a ball is being elevated.

United States Patent 13,572,70s

[72] lnvcntor August schmid 2,286,250 6/1942 Albertoli 198/160 Schwerzenbach, Switzerland 2,682,407 6/ 1 954 l-luck 273/49 [21 App]. No. 725,335 2,931,651 4/1960 Zuercher... 273/49 [22] Filed Apr. 30, 1968 3,107,917 /1963 Fried 273/49 Patented Mar. 30, 1971 3,300,028 l/1967 Landrey et a1 198/ 1 I731 Assignee Patentverwertungs-und FOREIGN PATENTS Finanzierungsgesellschalt Serania AG 445 593 2 949 h l clams, Switzerland a y [32] Priority May 2, 1967 Primary Examiner-Anton O. Oechsle [33] Switzerland Attorney-Werner W. Kleeman [3 1] 6264/67 M [54] FOR AllSTRACT: bowling ball-lifting device for bowling instal- 1 Claim 7 Drawing Figs lations comprising an upper and lower deflecting rollers Wl'llCh are plvotally mounted. An endless belt trained about the U-S. upper and l wer deflecting rollers erves to raise the Cl A63d 5/02 balls. A train of rollers is disposed at the rear of the bowling of Search ball conveying run of the endless belt for upporting at least 3 198/160 (cursory) portion of the length of said conveying run of said endless belt. The lower deflectin roller is ivotall mounted so that it is [56] References cued raised when a ball is being elevated. A ball-blocking UNITED STATES PATENTS mechanism cooperates with the lower roller to prevent the in- 2,709,000 5/1955 Frank et a1 198/165X feed of further balls while a ball is being elevated.

PATENIEU. man I971 SHEET 1 OF 3 INVENTOR 4 v \F 0, M O 1. i m A I m 1 4. r v n a w y 5 u a 4 "nu u 1 ATTORNEY;

PATENTEU man :91:

SHEET 2 OF 3 ig 4 4 INVENTOR zfka nrt \SL'hM/a ATTORNEYS PATENTED man I97! SHEET 3 OF 3 INVENTOR flagasi' BY {W ATTORNEYJ BOWLING BALL LIFTING DEVICE FOR BOWLING INSTALLATIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved'bowling balllifting device for bowling installations which is of the type incorporating an upper and a lower deflecting roller means about which there is trained an endless belt member or the like serving to raise the bowling balls, and wherein the deflecting roller means are pivotably mounted.

To those familiar with the sport of bowling it should be apparent that it is necessary to raise the bowling balls at the region of the pin-spotting section of the bowling installation in order that they can roll back with a slight descent to the bowler. With such bowling ball-lifting devices the problem exists ofpositively raising in a troublefree manner bowling balls which have variations in their diameter by means of a belt member.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved bowling ball-lifting device which is capable of effectively overcoming the drawbacks of the prior art structures.

Another, more specific object of the present invention relates to an improved bowling ball-lifting device for reliably raising the bowling balls in a positive and troublefree manner and returning same to the bowler.

Still a further significant object of the present invention relates to an improved bowling ball-lifting device which is relatively simple in construction, highly reliable in operation, extremely economical to manufacture, and not readily subject to breakdown, while being capable of positively lifting or raising the thrown bowling balls even though'there may exist some slight variations in the diameters of the individual balls.

Now, in order to implement these and still further objects of the invention, which will become more readily apparent as the description proceeds, the inventive bowling ball-lifting device is manifested by the features that the rear of the conveying run of the belt member is at least supported along a portion of its length by means of a train of rollers. By virtue of this measure it is possible to raise the bowling balls through a relatively large height without the tension in the belt becoming impermissibly large and without there occuring excessive conditions of wear.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be better understood, and objects other than those set forth above, will become apparent, when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:

FIG. I schematically illustrates a front view of a preferred embodiment of inventive bowling ball-lifting device;

FIG. 2 is a side-view of the inventive lifting device depicted in FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a detail of the lifting device depicted in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the bowling ball lifting device depicted in FIG. 3, taken along the line IV-lV thereof;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken through the train or bank of rollers used in the ligting device depicted in FIGS. I to 4;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view showing details of a bowling ball-blocking device depicted in its nonblocking position; and

FIG. '7 shows the bowling ball-blocking device of FIG. 6, but in this instance in its bowling ball-blocking position.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Describing now the drawings, the exemplary embodiment of inventive bowling ball-lifting device shown in the drawings embodies a substantially rectangular-shaped stationary frame unit 1 which is supported at its lower end upon a base plate 2 or equivalent structure. The bowling balls 3 which are to be raised beau upon two strut or bracket members 4 which are substantially parallel to one another and which are spaced from one another at a distance which is smaller than the diameter of the bowling balls. Continuing, it will be seen that a lever member 6 is arranged at a transverse support 5 which extends from the frame unit or assembly I. This lever member 6 is pivotably mounted by means of a bolt member 7 at this transverse support 5. Furthermore, lever member 6 carries a shaft 6 upon which there is rotatably mounted a lower deflecting roller 9. Additionally, an upper deflecting roller 10 is supported by a bracket or link a which, in turn, depends from a support leg 12 which is rigidly connected to the frame unit I. A suitable endless V-belt member I3 is trained or wrapped about both deflecting rollers 9 and 10. The drive for the upper deflecting roller 10 is undertaken through the agency of a suitable electric motor 14 or equivalent prime mover through the intermediary of a belt member 15.

A substantially vertically extending auxiliary frame unit 16 equipped with a train or bank of rollers 50 is operatively connected with the lever member 6, as best shown in FIG. 3. This auxiliary frame unit 16 is hingedly connected with the bolt member 8, and thus, partakes in any pivotal movement which is carried out by the latter. The upper end of this auxiliary frame unit 16 is hingedly connected via a shorter link or arm member 17 with a support leg I8a. Consequently, the lever member 6, the auxiliary frame unit 16 and the link or arm member 17 define a parallelogram which enables the auxiliary frame unit 16 to move parallel or at least approximately parallel to itself.

Furthermore, it should be understood and recognized that the auxiliary frame unit 16 is pulled downwardly by means of a suitable spring member 21 which operatively engages with the shaft 25 (FIG. 2) through the agency of a lever member 20 which is secured to said shaft. As already previously mentioned, this auxiliary frame unit 16 is equipped throughout its entire length with a bank or train of rollers 50 which embody the roller members I8 and 19. When the bowling balls 3 are raised, these rollers 18, 29 press against the rear conveying run of the V-belt l3 and therefore are placed into rotation. A closer inspection of FIG. 5 will make it apparent that there are provided two types of rollers, namely the roller members I8 which have a central recess SI and lateral guide surfaces 24 which serve to center the V-belt l3, and the second type of rollers I9 which are situated between these guide surfaces 24 and do not possess any such recess. By virtue of this arrangement it is possible to arrange the support locations for the belt member 13 very close to one another, and therefore, it is also possible to prevent any pronounced through bending or flexing of such belt member.

In order to prevent the possibility that a number of bowling balls 3 will arrive at the aforedescribed lifting device in close proximity to one another and therefore might cause some malfunction in the machine, there is advantageously provided a bowling ball blocking mechanism. The latter comprises a double-arm lever member 20 which is rotatably mounted at the transverse carrier or support 5. The lower end of this doublearm lever member 20 is equipped with a roller 21, as best shown by inspecting FIGS. 6 and 7, and at the other end thereof there engages a tension spring 22, as shown. Further,

as will be recognized by inspecting FIG. 6, the lever member 6 presses upon a roller 240 provided at the double-arm lever 20. In the rest condition, in other words when there is no bowling ball 3 located in the lifting device, the roller member 21 is situated above the path of movement provided for the bowling balls (FIG. 6). However, when a bowling ball 3 is located at the described lifting device, then, the deflecting rollers 9 and 16 together with the vertical frame unit I6 move upwards, whereby the lever 6 releases the double-arm lever 20 which then rotates in counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGS. 6 and 7. As a result, the roller 21 arrives at a lowered blocking position where it can prevent the next bowling ball from entering the lifting device as long as such lifting device is occupied by the first bowling ball. Finally, it should be mentioned in order to readily permit the exchange of the belt means the deflecting rollers 9 and 10 are only supported or mounted at one side, as best seen by referring to FIG. I. This is also the case for the vertical frame means 16.

While there is shown and described a present preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the invention is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise vari ously embodied and practiced within the scope of the following claims.

lclaim:

1. A bowling ball-lifting device for bowling installation comprising an upper and lower deflecting roller means, means for pivotably mounting said and lower deflecting roller means,

roller means, said bowling ball-blocking mechanism incorporating blocking lever means mounted at a stationary portion of the lifting device, said blocking lever means extending into the path of movement of the bowling balls when said lower deflecting roller means is pivoted so that the infeed of further bowling balls is blocked as long as a bowling ball is located in the lifting device. 

1. A bowling ball-lifting device for bowling installation comprising an upper and lower deflecting roller means, means for pivotably mounting said and lower deflecting roller means, endless belt means trained about said upper and lower deflecting roller means for raising the bowling balls, a train of rollers at the rear of the bowling ball-conveying run of said endless belt means for supporting at least a portion of the length of said conveying run of said endless belt means, a bowling ball-blocking mechanism cooperating with said lower deflecting roller means, said bowling ball-blocking mechanism incorporating blocking lever means mounted at a stationary portion of the lifting device, said blocking lever means extending into the path of movement of the bowling balls when said lower deflecting roller means is pivoted so that the infeed of further bowling balls is blocked as long as a bowling ball is located in the lifting device. 